Authors

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

The article introduces the reader to the idea that justice involves social action and struggle. It then shifts the perspective to the struggle for justice in historic memory. The author focuses on the struggle to limit sovereign absolutism, the outcome of which is reflected in the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta was not a gift of the sovereign, it represented a political struggle to obtain it. The article then traces the evolution of law in the common law tradition and the importance of casuistic legal methods to ground the specific rights of citizens. The article draws reference to the struggle between judges and the sovereign to secure justice under the common law. A pivotal feature of the Selma March was the critical role of a brave federal judge, Frank Johnson, who ruled that the marchers had a constitutional right to march. The article then examines the religious influences on marching for justice ideals and the deeper meaning this represents existentially and spiritually.

Recommended Citation

Winston P. Nagan, Struggle for Justice in the Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery: The Legacy of the Magna Carta and the Common Law Tradition, 6 Faulkner L. Rev. 1 (2014), available at http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub/681